Interesting report here from Lauren Fox about a Q&A with Sen. Orrin Hatch about Medicare. Hatch makes pretty clear that he supports the Ryan Medicare Phaseout plan (phasing out Medicare and replacing it with private insurance and vouchers.) But he also makes clear that he’s reluctant to do it unless Democrats give Republicans cover. As we predicated, a lot of this will come down to whether Democrats give Republicans cover to phaseout Medicare on a notionally bipartisan basis. He also makes clear that he thinks some form of phaseout will be necessary to afford the rest of Trump’s agenda. Read.
At least not for ‘years’.
The key committee chair in the Senate is now saying that repealing and replacing Obamacare could take years. Absolute must read. Here.
From Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer outside of Trump Tower a few moments ago (emphasis added):
“Israel has no doubt that President-elect Trump is a true friend of Israel. We have no doubt that Vice-President-elect Mike Pence is a true friend of Israel, he was one of Israel’s greatest friends in the Congress, one of the most pro-Israel governors in the country, and we look forward to working with the Trump administration, with all of the members of the Trump administration, including Steve Bannon, and making the US-Israel alliance stronger than ever”
Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) lays out GOP’s timeline for phasing out Medicare next year.
Michael Gerrard is the director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, an Andrew Sabin Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia Law School and a member of The Earth Institute. He’ll be dropping by the Hive at 2 p.m. EST today to discuss what the presidency means for climate change and the environment, as well as to take your questions on climate change law. Drop them in this thread at or before 2 p.m. If you want to participate but are not a Prime member, sign up here.
In case you missed this, yesterday evening we published our first checklist of where members of Congress stand on Paul Ryan’s plan to phase out Medicare and replace it with vouchers for private insurance. A few things to keep in mind for analyzing it and seeing what you can find out from your representative or senator. First, there are lots and lots of Democrats who either are stating vague opposition or are not saying where they stand at all. If they’re still vague or not stating a position at all, that’s very, very dangerous for the future of Medicare. Like every other member of Congress, they won’t state a flat and categorical decision unless pressed. And frankly, from what I can see, most of the these folks are still cuddling with comfort novels or awkwardly singing in dive bars over their third beer. It’s sad. But they’re totally not focusing on this. Trust me. Bigly.
Trump surrogate says no problem with Muslim registry since we already did that when we interned Japanese citizens during World War II.
Okay, folks. We’ve put together a preliminary list of where members of Congress stand on Paul Ryan’s plan to phase out Medicare and replace it with vouchers for private insurance. I want to stress this is a work in process. We have compiled this list with a mix of reports from TPM Readers and our own reporting staff on Capitol Hill.
The most recent (2015) version of the Medicare Phase Out plan comes from Rep. Tom Price (R-GA). He’s now being considered to be Secretary of Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which would oversee phasing out Medicare.
Price just arrived at Trump Tower at about 3:20 PM.
If you’re having a hard time prying a position out of Republican members of Congress on whether they support Paul Ryan’s plan to phase out Medicare, here’s a toolkit that will help. The gist: Almost all of them already voted for it. So they can’t say they don’t know anything about it or don’t have a position. They do have a position. They voted for it. It’s just a question of whether they’re going to support it again now that there’s no President Obama they can rely on to veto it. Click here to see more.